


sunshower

by serulean



Category: Ensemble Stars! (Video Game), enstars
Genre: M/M, just let me indulge i love them so much im crying
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-14
Updated: 2017-02-14
Packaged: 2018-09-24 01:04:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,853
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9692906
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/serulean/pseuds/serulean
Summary: Faster than a shooting star, he’s pulled by the wrist. Chiaki’s thumb a touch above his heart-pulse. His smile is blazing, leaving embers in his wake. Glowing deep-sea corals on a pitch-black ocean floor. And as Kanata looks down at Chiaki’s hand on his, he feels like glow-extensions of something so special.





	

**Author's Note:**

> hello!! very self-indulgent small piece for the two characters dearest to me~
> 
> listen to this [song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHy9mLJ7enk)!; aaa ;o;

 

Kanata hates rainy days.

 

It’s cold and damp, a thousand tiny pinpricks on his skin. Too distant from the coldness and dampness the embracing sea brings. While he feels a binding with the sea, the rain is a harsh reminder of differences: not _made_ for water, not _fit_ for land.

 

Outside, Yumenosaki is a blur, cloaked by the rain’s monotone patters. Gloomy weather seeping into his very bones, casting looming gray shadows into—( _hisheart-hisheart-hisheart_ )—all things under the heavy sky. Days like this, when the world is a room full of loud stillness, Kanata can’t help but be drawn back to places he tried hard not to think about. Places that always hurt.

 

He sighs, for the umpteenth time that day. It makes him look a lot more pensive, a little less adrift.

 

Staring through the window, he sees the wind whistling through the trees. It’s cold, isn’t it? He can’t soak in the fountain; Chiaki might get angry with him. Or, worse. _Worried sick._ It’s the last thing he wants to happen. The clubroom is currently off-limits after an ‘incident’ involving huge aquatic tanks. And practice has been cancelled. There’s no place left other than… _there_ , right?

 

Kanata wishes the sea’s distance by foot is the same as its distant from his heart. Close, always pressing close.

 

“Oh, Kanata.” Chiaki’s deep voice comes out of nowhere and pulls him out of his thoughts. No, not ‘nowhere’. Kanata is always so aware of Chiaki’s presence. It’s just that—he’s everywhere, to him. It almost feels like he dreamt him.

 

“You’re still here?” Chiaki repeats, a question Kanata have missed the first time.

 

“I don’t ‘want’ to go ‘back’ yet, Chiaki.” He says, simply. He doesn’t say _where_ , doesn’t say _house_ like Midori does when he talks about leaving or going back. He doesn’t need to. It’s a hushed truth both of them know too well. A clear line they’ve drawn many sunsets ago.

 

A line that goes like this: Chiaki knows not to press forward. He has always been an expanding existence in Kanata’s life. Fills up the world tightly within its imaginary walls and yet always leaves corner-spaces big enough for Kanata’s past (and present—depending on how fast he runs, how often he doesn’t look back).

 

And so, Chiaki just quiets.

 

Kanata’s familiar with this. It’s not the kind of quiet that gives way for one’s self to be alone. It’s taking three steps back before he run and take a leap. Gathering momentum. Going onwards. It’s the part of Chiaki he loves the most—full of vivid hopes and starry-dreams.

 

A hero among men. A man among heroes. Isn’t that what makes him dazzling? A little boy who chased for dreams and made it happen.

 

“What are you 'thinking' of, Chiaki?” Kanata pouts. “I will be ‘mad’ if you keep a ‘secret’ from me.”

 

“Hm,” Chiaki considers. “Staying idle like this is not a very hero thing to do. Kanata, do you want to do something with me?”

 

Once, too many seasons ago, Chiaki reached out his hands to Kanata…

 

_I’ll tell you a lot of important things._

 

_I’ll give you so much fun._

 

_I’ll show you what happiness looks like._

 

Chiaki doesn’t need to ask, Kanata will always follow him like waves kissing shores again and again and again and again.

 

“Yes~”

 

And then.

 

Faster than a shooting star, he’s pulled by the wrist. Chiaki’s thumb a touch above his heart-pulse. His smile is blazing, leaving embers in his wake. Glowing deep-sea corals on a pitch-black ocean floor. And as Kanata looks down at Chiaki’s hand on his, he feels like glow-extensions of something so special.

 

* * *

 

“Chiaki~ where are we ‘going’?”

 

“To feel the rain!”

 

“The ‘rain’? You got ‘mad’ at me when I stayed under the ‘rain’ last time, didn’t you Chiaki? You are ‘confusing’ me.”

 

“Well, you were soaking in the fountain last time while raining. That’s bad for your health!”

 

Kanata gives him a questioning look.

 

“Today’s an exception! We don’t have upcoming lives so it’s fine. You see…” Chiaki begins to tell him. “When I was younger, I have a list of things I want to do. This is one of them!”

 

“Oh.” Kanata blinks, gently. “Is this a ‘dream’ of yours? Are we going to ‘make’ your ‘dream’ come true, Chiaki?”

 

“Yes, we’re going to do that!” Chiaki laughs, making holes in the soulless sky, pouring something honey-warm in it. “And I’ll make you smile.”

 

Because Chiaki never presses forward with the line they’ve drawn but he always finds a way around it. That’s what real heroes do: look for infinite ways to save people; instill hope in their hearts.

 

And create smiles.

 

_Isn’t that right, Chiaki?_

 

If Kanata can make Chiaki’s dream come true, little by little, one smile at a time, then he knows this is a place he can always go back to.

 

* * *

 

The rain is less harsh than it was hours ago, but the overtones of it still wash over the area.

 

Chiaki takes off his shoes and steps barefoot on the grass. “This feels really good. Come and join me, Kanata!”

 

He looks at Chiaki, head tilted skywards. There’s a rain-halo around him the color of midnight sun and frosted smoke. He almost seems untouchable, _unreal_. Like he dreamt him.

 

He steps in barefoot, too. The pillowy peck of the soil—the land—is comforting beneath his feet. _Welcome_ , it almost says.

 

Wind-struck, he looks at Chiaki who isn’t in his usual element. Chiaki who is made of fire and brimstones, not for rain and dark skies. And yet. _And yet_.

 

Here. Now. Chiaki, laughing and loving. Chiaki who doesn’t need to be in his element, like Kanata needs the lull and roar of the sea. Chiaki who carries his heart everywhere and makes a home out of everything. His hearth-fire within him all the time.

 

And Kanata—he wants to reach for it. For that light.

 

He shuts his eyes close, opens it and…

 

“Kanata…” There’s a hand that’s reaching out for him. “Let’s dance!”

 

Heart beats fast. “But there is no ‘music’, Chiaki.”

 

Like a simple fact. “Do we need music?”

 

_Do we need to wait …_

 

_For things to happen …_

 

_Why can’t we just make it? Right, Kanata?_

 

 _Let’s make_ our _dream come true!_

 

_A sunset promise, so long ago._

 

They don’t need one. Kanata knows this well. In the form of that smile, in the smell of the rain. In the tune of his heartbeat.

 

He is breathless, weightless, when he thinks: _Beautiful. Burning._ And then, he takes the hand.

 

It’s wet, like his. Yet warm and rough. There’s courage taking shape between his fingers.

 

It’s an awkward start: hands guessing their rightful places. Was it at the shoulder? The hip? The plane of their back? Both of them, so nimble and springy on the stage, now fumbling sloppily at the face of one another. _There’s no proper way_ , Chiaki concludes, _hahaha we just have to make our own._ It ends with something like an embrace: Chiaki’s arms around Kanata’s waist; Kanata’s arms around Chiaki’s shoulders.

 

Eyes on Chiaki.

 

Eyes on Kanata.

 

Their gazes all for each other. There’s something so electric and palpable about it, like they’re standing at the edge of the universe and the stars are within reach.

 

Seahorses dance together as a form of their bond, a special one of a kind moment. It’s not that different, isn’t it?

 

_One-step, two-step, swaying._

 

“I ‘don’t like’ the ‘rain’, Chiaki.” Kanata hides his face in Chiaki's shoulder. There’s no reply but, this close, he feels a swell of inhale. “It makes me ‘remember’. It’s ‘sad’, you know.”

 

He hears, moments later—Kanata isn’t sure. Time feels slow, like this.

 

“Since becoming a leader, what I learned from everyone, from _you_ , is that—” Chiaki’s arms around him are tighter than ever, “I’m not alone anymore. I’m _never_ alone. It’s funny, right? Heroes should be the one saving others. But… every day, with all of you around, I feel like I’m always the one being saved.”

 

_One-step, two-step, swaying._

 

Chiaki pulls his arms free and cups Kanata’s face. There’s a crystal droplet of rain caught in his eyelashes. “You’re here now. So is everyone. We’re here for you. And I’m here with you.”

 

Kanata touches the hand on his face, a burning feeling crashes into him. “Thank you, Chiaki~”

 

_One-step, two-step, swaying._

 

It’s cold. It’s damp. But he’s looking at Chiaki and there are no harsh reminders or distances. Only his pounding heart, no different from the once he had the first time, and this boy with a sunlit-smile.

 

Leaves sing back to the wind and flowers dance like pinwheels in a breeze. The rain is a melody he wants to memorize. Everything feels different. Here. Now.

 

“My ‘heart’ is warm, Chiaki. Mm~ the ‘rain’ isn’t so ‘bad’,” he says.

 

“Then we should celebrate this by dancing more!” Chiaki brightens and sweeps Kanata off his feet, lifting him gracefully. _Almost_. The elegant move is lost when he fails to lift Kanata and the two of them tumble down together like little kids.

 

Chiaki doesn’t shelter him but brings him to his world. And him—he’s the one who never lets go.

 

It’s hard to say where the laugh begins and where it ends. It’s there, ever-present, like sands in a shoreline or water in the ocean. Chiaki’s laughter is so big and loud, it moves the earth. And he is laughing too, a feeling bubbling inside him.

 

Kanata wants to hold on to moments like this forever. Hold that laugh and cup it between his palms, tenderly. He tries to describe it—compare it to what the sea is for him but it’s impossible. After all, Chiaki is (his) one and only.

 

The world feels softer around them. Tomorrow, they might get sick. The kids will not be happy; Tetora might even call Chiaki an idiot for making this happen; Midori might secretly whisper to Kanata what vegetables are good for sick people; Shinobu might get a little teary and a lot concerned. Tomorrow, Akiomi-sensei might reprimand them on what idols shouldn’t do. Tomorrow, his eccentric friends might fuss and worry in their own eccentric ways. Tomorrow, _tomorrow_ , they have lots of tomorrow, isn’t that right?

 

Today. Here. Now. They have each other.

 

Kanata knows he doesn’t have to wish on shooting stars or count down the hours until the rain goes away or feel like he’s running out of places to call home. Chiaki is everything: shimmering dreams, burning sun, everlasting home.

 

“Are you…” Chiaki says, trying to catch his breath between laughter-fits. “Are you happy, Kanata?”

 

They’re lying on the grass, uniforms soaked and muddied. The drops of water on his face are gentle and cool. Everything is precious. _If you have 'lots' of things that you love, then that’s happiness._

 

“Heheheh, I am~ I am happy~”

 

They lace their fingers together, another thing blooming between them.

 

Chiaki is a sunshower and Kanata doesn’t mind the rainy days if it means he can say hello to dancing under the rain and happiness like this.

 

-

**Author's Note:**

> wahhh let's pretend kanata doesn't like the rain, roll w me ;v;
> 
> i remember the ryukids saying chiaki never visits kanata's home & it feels like they've drawn a line somewhere so... c':
> 
> hahaha. backstory when. hahaha (laughs in pain)
> 
> thanks for reading!!! ★


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